Now one of the questions John asked me was about my approach as a female writer of epic fantasy—and Paul Weimer also made the recent observation in his review of The Heir of Night for SF Signal that:

“Lowe brings a number of strengths to the table. The greatest of these is the female characters and, more broadly, the role of women in this world. It’s not just that we have a couple of strong female characters bobbing up, but rather what we see is the tip of a submerged iceberg of egalitarianism.”

Paul Weimer is not the first commentator to have noted the strength of the women characters in THE WALL OF NIGHT series—so it may perhaps come as no surprise to readers that my guest post with Mur Lafferty on I Should Be Writing is on:

“When The Heir of Night, the first book in The Wall of Night quartet, came out in the UK last year, its SFX reviewer remarked: “there’s no discussion or worthy treatise on why women are not just equals but head the Earl’s Honor Guard – they just are.”

Exactly! I thought–because if the society really is equal then its members won’t debate or question that norm, they will accept it as status quo. In the context of the story, the discussion or worthy treatise then becomes clear for what it is, an intrusion of the authorial voice …”

"THE HEIR OF NIGHT by Helen Lowe is a richly told tale of strange magic, dark treachery and conflicting loyalties, set in a well realized world."--Robin Hobb

Thornspell

Jacket art by Antonio Javier Caparo

Thornspell is my first novel and is published by Knopf (Random House Children's Books, USA). It won the Sir Julius Vogel Award 2009 for Best Novel: Young Adult and was a Storylines Childrens' Literature Trust Notable Book 2009.